HORONAIM

(Hor·o·naʹim) [possibly, two caves, holes].

A place in Moab included among those against which Jehovah’s judgment was directed. (Isa. 15:1, 5; Jer. 48:1, 3, 5, 34) Its exact location is uncertain. However, the possible meaning of its name (“two caves, holes”) has led some geographers to identify Horonaim tentatively with el-ʽArak (“cave”), situated more than 1,600 feet (488 meters) below the level of the Moabite plateau and some eight miles (13 kilometers) E of the southern end of the Dead Sea. Horonaim may be the same as the “Hauronen” mentioned in the Moabite Stone as having been taken in battle by Mesha the king of Moab. It may also correspond to the “Orone” that Alexander Janneus took from the “Arabians.”—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XIV, chap. I, par. 4.